Business Roundup | Ford to introduce 3rd SUV in Russia

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, and partner OAO Sollers will introduce a third sport-utility vehicle in Russia and boost engine production in the country to meet rising demand.

The Ford Sollers venture will build the EcoSport SUV in the second half of 2014 and as many as 105,000 engines a year at the factory beginning in December 2015, both in Russia's Tatarstan region, according to a statement. The $274 million plant eventually will have capacity to make as many as 200,000 engines a year, Ford said.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally is filling holes in Ford's product portfolio in Russia, which is poised to become Europe's biggest auto market. While its Focus was the No. 2 best-selling non-Russian model last year, a lack of local production has held Ford back in SUV segments that were almost one-third of the market.

"What's really booming here in particular are the SUVs," Ted Cannis, CEO of Ford Sollers, said in a telephone interview. "With our footprint here, because the only localized vehicles that we had that could be really competitive were the Focus and the Mondeo, we could only participate in part of the industry."

Humana's Medicare plans could see 50 percent boost in enrollment

Humana and its competitors may see enrollment increase 50 percent in their U.S.-funded Medicare plans over the next decade rather than decline as previously predicted by federal budget analysts.

Medicare Advantage plans for the elderly and disabled will swell to 21 million participants by fiscal 2023 from 14 million this year, the Congressional Budget Office said May 14 in its annual review of the federal budget. The CBO didn't explain the revision from its earlier estimate that enrollment would fall to 11 million. A spokeswoman said the agency couldn't publicly discuss the change.

The reversal shows that a recent slowdown in health-care cost growth may be permanent, said Joseph Antos, a health economist at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington who has advised the CBO in the past. Medicare Advantage plans, which offer added benefits over traditional Medicare such as lower out-of-pocket spending, may be able to increase those benefits as costs slow.

Humana gets 66 percent of its revenue and 58 percent of profit from Medicare Advantage, according to estimates by Cowen & Co. analysts.

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Business Roundup | Ford to introduce 3rd SUV in Russia

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, and partner OAO Sollers will introduce a third sport-utility vehicle in Russia and boost engine production in the country to meet rising demand.